I'm seriously about to lose my mind. DS will be 3 next month and knows loud and extra loud. He knows how to whisper but can't maintain it. He has no "inside voice". We have tried so many different ways to teach him to pipe it down but he can't grasp it.

He wakes everyone in the house up. I walk around most days with a constant headache.... and forget when I'm on the phone. We call that volume "super sonic".

We always use the terms "small voice" and "big voice" because that is more concrete. There are times when you might be outside but still need an quiet voice which leads to confusion. Other than modeling and practice there are not a lot of options. Have you had his hearing checked or could he have fluid in his ears from allergies? That will cause that loud talking too. You could try playing a game where you use a voice and then ask him if it was small or big and then ask him to model similar voices for you. At three the most effective thing I have found is to catch them doing what you want and praise the heck out of them.

Maybe seeing a visual of how what volumes are acceptable would help? They make apps that measure noise level (think back when you were in school did one of your teachers have the traffic light that moved to yellow or red if the room was getting too loud?).

I haven't tried it yet, but there is a free app for iphone called Too Noisy that looks cute and kid friendly. It could even be a game for the first few times you use if of How long can you go without getting to the RED or whatever.

i have the same problem with my girls. they are both loud. they get it honest though, i admit i'm a loudmouth too. we are all working on it together. i'll try to use the big voice small voice game. maybe i can get them into playing it and play with them so maybe we can all break the big voice habit!

I have this problem with my ds. I have him show me his inside voice and his loud voice then remind him to use the inside voice. I also give him one warning and if he yells again he has to stick his tongue out while n timeout for 4 minutes. It sounds horrible, but you can't yell with your tongue out and he doesn't like having to do it so we get results with it. I used to do a lot of yelling and have constant headaches too. Now I have them from my DD's screeching.